


To Tell The Truth

by LdyAnne



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Drama, First Kiss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-08
Updated: 2012-04-08
Packaged: 2017-11-03 06:11:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/378189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LdyAnne/pseuds/LdyAnne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney's been a long time connoisseur of John Sheppard's butt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Tell The Truth

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my beta chocolatephysicist for your help and support. Any mistakes remaining are my own.
> 
> SBG wrote the Butts and Hands series for H5O located here - http://archiveofourown.org/series/14226  
> When I said there was a sad lack of butt fic in other fandoms, she challenged me to write my own. This is my attempt.

Rodney has been a long time connoisseur of John Sheppard's butt.

Not just the cloth covered butt which was fine all by itself. No, the real deal - the first time he'd had a glimpse of the glorious naked flesh had been when they came back from slime world covered in mud from head to toe. Carson had made them shower in the communal showers before he'd let the team into his infirmary.

It wasn't like he *meant* to look at Sheppard's butt, but they were showering there side-by-side, steam billowing around them. Suddenly there was an opening in the steam and there was John Sheppard's butt, rounded and sweet. Rodney was so shocked he just stood and stared for a moment. He longed to lean over and pinch a cheek just to see if it was as firm as it appeared. He could just barely see the shadowed cleft between the cheeks, a promise of further delights. Then the steam billowed around Sheppard again, and his butt was hidden from Rodney's sight. Rodney gulped and turned away hoping no one saw the evidence of his interest before he could turn the temperature of his own shower down.

"Damn, Rodney, I know you're Canadian, but don't tell me you always take showers this cold," John griped at Rodney as he wrapped a towel around his waist.

That was the beginning of Rodney's obsession with John Sheppard's butt.

You wouldn't know it to look at him because his pants rarely fit well (not that Rodney was looking), but John Sheppard had a fine butt. A butt that Rodney wanted to do filthy things to. He had a spreadsheet chronicling the times he'd caught a glimpse of John's butt: John diving away from the Wraith and his shirt pulled up and his pants riding low to show a swell of butt cheek, bent over a console and his pants pulled tight over the firm muscular cheeks, John walking in front of Rodney and those cheeks just bobbing there in front of him. It took up more of Rodney's time than he liked imagining what he could do to that butt. (There was a spreadsheet for that, too.)

Even though he was obsessed with John's butt, he didn't ever seriously think he had a shot at it. John was as straight as anyone Rodney knew. And he was Rodney's best friend. Rodney had had plenty of lovers (they always ended badly), but he'd never had a best friend, so he was okay with an academic interest in John's butt. He was happy with his friendship – they played video golf, raced their cars and snarked the day away. Really it was all Rodney needed. He didn't long for any hands-on experience (it was a filthy lie, but that's what Rodney told himself so he didn't feel quite so guilty for lusting after John's butt). Rodney was okay with the way things were, and they might have continued like that forever. Except for one thing. Except for M2Y-87S.

~~~~~

John paced the cell restlessly. The only light was from a window high up on one wall, which allowed the weak afternoon sunlight to paint the room in dim light. But he didn't need much light to know that he was the only one in the cell.

The people of M2Y-87S had taken one look at them and immediately the weapons had come up before John and Rodney had even properly recovered from stepping through the wormhole. John had fought to stay with Rodney. But one of the burly guards who had a hold on his arms cuffed him on the side of the head. John was dazed enough that he was pretty tractable until they threw him in a cell and left him there alone.

He searched the cell thoroughly. What there was of it. It was more a walk-in closet than a cell. Obviously the people of M2Y-87S didn't have prisoners often (or maybe they just didn't think John and Rodney a threat), so they'd shoved John into what amounted to be a closet (without his weapons of course. They'd been smart enough to take his gear from him, damn it). Still it would be a pretty easy place to escape from. He had their escape plan already formed in his head. They weren't too far from the gate, and he was confident of their ability to make it there and from there to home without injury.

There was just one problem with his plan - he had no idea where they'd taken McKay. And he wasn't leaving without Rodney. Not even if it made good sense to escape and come back with a team of marines. No way in hell was he leaving without his scientist. It was his job to keep Rodney safe, and he'd failed spectacularly this time.

The people of the planet had come highly recommended by another trading partner. So that, even when Teyla and Ronon had come down with the Pegasus version of the flu and Carson had insisted they both be quarantined (John absolutely agreed. He didn't want to get it. He'd never seen anyone throw up as much as Ronon was doing.) so that they didn't put the rest of the base at risk, no one had even suggested that he and Rodney needed to take anyone else with them for their first contact mission. Rodney and John had waved goodbye at Teyla and Ronon, not-so-secretly relieved to escape the base before the flu swept through the place.

Now Rodney was missing and John paced his six-by-six cell going out of his mind with worry.

He was just coming up with a new plan - break out, find out where they were holding Rodney, break him out of wherever he was so they could make their escape together, when he heard footsteps outside his closet/prison/whatever cell. He was so relieved to recognize Rodney's voice that he sagged against a wall in relief.

"No, really, you guys have us all wrong. We're not out for galaxy-wide conquest. We just want to be friends." From the slurred tones of Rodney's voice John knew something was wrong. He had visions of Rodney being cut and bruised, battered and beaten, torn and bloody. John tensed, ready to throw himself at the guards. He would carry Rodney if he had to; get him back to Atlantis as fast as he could where he would get the treatment that he might Rodney moved away be needing.

Then the door was opened. Light flooded the dim room, blinding John. Before he could make his move, Rodney was shoved forward and John found his arms full of scientist. The door was slammed shut before John could even move.

John squinted at Rodney, his eyes watering from the bright light.

Rodney looked alright, if slightly wobbly. Then he titled to the right and would have gone down if John didn't have a firm grip on his arms.

"Hey, buddy," John said. "How you doing?"

Rodney blinked at him. "John?" He patted John's face. "Hey, you're real."

John peered into Rodney's eyes. The pupils were blown wide; there was just a thin sliver of blue around the edges.

"Of course I'm real," John said. He helped Rodney sit. He crouched down next to him. "What did they do to you?" Rodney didn't look or move like he was injured. He did keep listing to the right; John kept a hand on his shoulder holding him upright.

"Do? I don't know." Rodney looked around the room vaguely, like he was looking for something. He looked up at John suddenly, his eyes earnest. "I am so drugged right now. They gave me some kind of truth serum."

Oh, shit, that couldn't be good. Rodney knew everything about Atlantis' security and their procedures. Hell, he'd written most of it.

"Look I'm sorry, I tried not to, but they kept asking and asking and asking and I couldn't help myself." Rodney's lower lip trembled.

John could only imagine the secrets that Rodney had spilled.

"Rodney, it's okay," John tried to soothe him. "I know that things look bad, but we'll figure this out."

Rodney let out a little sob, "I'm so sorry, John, they just kept asking and I had to tell them.

"It's okay, buddy," John reassured him. He gripped Rodney's shoulder, reassuringly he hoped. "Zelenka can take care of Atlantis. He's almost as smart as you."

"What?" Rodney's squawk surprised John enough that he fell backwards onto his ass. Rodney surged forward, crouching over John on his hands and knees. "He is not. Take it back." Rodney glared down at him.

"What?" John felt a little like he'd slipped into an alternate universe and he was stuck with Rodney's crazy alternate. He swallowed. "I mean, I know you didn't want to give them secret stuff, but everyone has a breaking point," he offered cautiously.

Rodney crawled away, his limbs uncooperative. He nearly kneed John in the crotch on his way.

"Shit, Rodney," John moaned. He rolled onto his side trying to protect his important parts.

"Sorry, sorry," Rodney mumbled, his hands patting trying to find the injury. John pushed him away. He appreciated the help but Rodney was drugged and his hands kept wandering to parts that weren't injured at all. Yet. Rodney ended up slumped against the wall, blinking at John anxiously.

"I'm fine," John assured. He sat up slowly so as not to spook Rodney. "So, uh... why don't you tell me what you told them," he said.

Rodney blinked at him. Once again he began to slide to his right. John stopped him by sitting on that side. Their shoulders were pressed together tightly.

"Rodney?" John prompted.

"What did I tell them?" Rodney's voice was hesitant. John could understand that. Rodney would be feeling guilty because he'd betrayed Atlantis. Their home was in danger and Rodney would feel like it was his fault. John had to make him see that it wasn't so. That everyone had a breaking point. The first step in damage control was finding out what secrets Rodney had given up.

"Yeah, what did you tell them? It's not your fault, they gave you drugs. There wasn't anything else you could do."

"Really?" Rodney turned to look at him. His eyes were shining bright. "You're right, those bastards drugged me. So it's not even my fault that I told them that you had the best ass in two galaxies."

"You told them what?" John scrambled back.

Rodney waved a hand in the air. "They kept on and on that they were going to uncover all of my secrets. And that's the only real secret I have. I mean I know codes and addresses and procedures. But those aren't really secrets. Everyone knows those – you know them, Zelenka knows them, Elizabeth knows, Teyla knows them, Lorne ..."

He would have gone on if John hadn't stopped him. "Yes, you've made your point. We all know those things." He was relieved to find out Atlantis' secrets were safe, he really was. But, "what's that thing you told them?"

Rodney leaned in again, his breath warm against John's face. "That's the biggest secret in two galaxies, no one else knows it because you won't share it with anyone. Your ass, that is. I mean, really, you wear those baggy pants all the time, it's hard to tell if you haven't seen it..."

"You've seen it?" John felt a little like he was going to explode. Really he was okay with Rodney knowing he had a fine butt, but the people of M2Y-87S? That was definite overshare.

Rodney's voice was peeved, "Well, yeah, not like you made it easy. But there have been the occasional sighting in the communal showers and sometimes during alien rituals that involved nudity."

"You looked?" John knew his voice was changing registers, but he couldn't help himself.

"You can hardly blame a guy," Rodney said with a smug grin, "It is a fine butt."

"And you told..."

"Oddly enough they didn't seem to care," Rodney chewed on his lower lip as he thought that over.

"Oh, god, I've got to get you home," John decided. They could talk about this later. When Rodney had been detoxed. He wasn't going to get anywhere while Rodney was still drugged.

Rodney nodded. "Home is good. I don't think they like us here."

John helped Rodney up. Rodney tottered a little once he was up, but he stayed solidly on his feet. John glared at him.

"And stop looking at my ass."

~~~~~

It really wasn't hard to get back to Atlantis. John didn't think the people of M2Y-87S tried too hard to stop them. Obviously Rodney's information was a disappointment to them. They made it home safely, without further injury where Rodney was immediately whisked away to the infirmary. Carson assured them all that he would be free of the effects of the drug soon.

"He'll be right as rain, and back to being the merry terror we all know and love before you really want him to."

It reassured John to know that Rodney was safe and recovering from the drug with no ill effects. John had a little hope that maybe Rodney wouldn't remember what he'd said on the planet, what secrets he'd been spilling. Maybe it would be best if they all just forgot what had happened there. That hope was crashed when Carson flushed and shook his head with a covert glance at John's butt.

John had left the infirmary in a hurry.

It was late that night when there was a knock on his door. He had been sitting, trying to catch up on his schedule for 'War and Peace.' He'd been hanging out with Rodney so much lately that he'd gotten behind schedule.

Truthfully he hadn't gotten very far. He was worried about Rodney, and he kept calling Carson to find out how he was doing. Carson had finally told John that he was busy. If he wanted to find out how Satan's spawn was doing, John could come to the infirmary and find out for himself.

John would have gone but he was still working through what Rodney had told him on the planet. He knew their first meeting after that revelation was going to be awkward, he didn't want there to be any witnesses. Because there had to be some reason Rodney had those thoughts but had done nothing about them for the years they'd known each other. He was prepared to give Rodney an out and let them return to their friendship no harm, no foul.

Except when he opened the door, Rodney stood on the other side looking sheepish and a little panic stricken. Suddenly John wasn't sure he wanted their relationship to return to the same old, same old.

John leaned against the door, very obviously blocking entrance to his room.

"Did Carson let you out?"

Rodney gave a frightened look down the hallway. "No, so let me in already."

John considered for a moment. Rodney glared at him. "Well?" he hissed.

John moved, allowing Rodney in to his room. "You feeling any better?" He tried to keep his tone level because he had no idea what was going to happen here. It made him feel off-kilter, out of control. He didn't like being out of control. He'd thought he knew what their relationship was all these years. And now he had new information that told him he might have been mistaken and that messed up his world view. He wasn't so sure they could just go back to being friends.

Rodney ignored his question, launching into his explanation, "You see, the thing is, I never meant for you to find out how I feel about you."

John leaned against the wall, unwilling or unable to relax like he normally could around Rodney. "You mean how you feel about my ass?"

"What?" Rodney frowned at him. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to upset your homophobic sensibilities alright? It's why I never said anything. I know you're straight. It's just those people drugged me so you can't blame me that I might have told you something that you would otherwise never have needed to know..."

John regarded Rodney closely. He was really upset about the whole thing. John had rarely seen him like this – red faced and pacing in agitation. Rodney usually didn't care what people thought about him, in fact he prided himself on how much he didn't care what people thought about him. But he was almost beside himself with worry that John might be mad at him, that he'd damaged their friendship. John allowed himself to relax a little.

"Don't you think I had a right to know?" John asked.

"Of course you know you have a fine butt," Rodney rolled his eyes.

"No," John countered. "Don't you think I had a right to know how you feel?"

That stopped Rodney cold, left him speechless.

John could almost see how Rodney had thought this would go. He would come in, they would banter a little, then John would give Rodney an out and they'd go back to the way their friendship worked. Except John knew a little more about Rodney's feelings now, he didn't think he'd be happy with that. Not happy at all.

"Why?" Rodney snapped. "It's not anything that would interest you. In fact, I'm expecting you to hit me at any moment." He did appear to be braced for just that, his body a tight line, his fists clenched.

"Rodney," John moved, going slowly, his voice gentle like Rodney was a horse he was trying not to spook. "I'm not going to hit you."

Rodney swallowed a little as John moved into his personal space, but he didn't move away. "What are you going to do then?"

John leaned in, pressing his lips to Rodney's. He started slow, learning the shape of Rodney's lips, warming them up.

Rodney didn't move for a long minute. John was disappointed. Maybe it was all just a fantasy and John was never meant to find out because Rodney didn't want anything more, just a fantasy man who would never be able to hurt or disappoint Rodney.

Then Rodney moaned, his lips parting, allowing entrance to John's tongue. They stood like that for a long moment, just getting to know each other this way.

John wrapped Rodney up in his embrace, pulling him as close as he could. Rodney's hands moved restlessly over John's body until one hand came to rest on a butt cheek. John pulled back.

Rodney's eyes were closed, his lips slightly parted. He leaned in to follow John. John put a hand on his chest to stop him.

Rodney's eyes opened slowly. "Why?" he asked simply

"I hear you have a thing for my butt," John whispered.

Rodney's eyes flew open. John was amused to see that they looked just like they had when Rodney was stoned – all pupil with a thin sliver of blue around the center. John didn't know what Rodney saw. Maybe he saw all the secrets John had – that he'd been content being Rodney's friend because he'd never thought they could have more. This was a chance he'd never thought to have.

Maybe Rodney got it. He licked his lips. "Yeah?" Rodney asked cautiously.

"And what about the rest of me?"

The hand on John's butt squeezed. Rodney smirked. "I'm... expecting, from the evidence at hand, that it will all be just as satisfactory as the aforementioned butt." John liked that Rodney's confidence grew with every word.

John let his own hands do some wandering. "Yeah?" he breathed.

"But I'm going to have to have some hands on experience before I can make a determination." Rodney leaned in to kiss John again.

"I'm okay with that," John murmured just as Rodney's mouth claimed his.


End file.
